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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25924591">marines who raise thieves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekometrics/pseuds/nekometrics'>nekometrics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, F/F, Gen, Implied Relationships, Introspection, Punk Hazard Arc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:14:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25924591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekometrics/pseuds/nekometrics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nami contemplates different forms of love, trust and second-hand snow globes on the hellscape of Punk Hazard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bell-mère &amp; Nami (One Piece), Nami &amp; Tashigi (One Piece), Nami/Nefertari Vivi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>marines who raise thieves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I've never posted any of my writing here before (being the messy, anxious human I am), but I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while and actually liked the end result - so I figured why not! </p><p>This vaguely takes place around chapters 696/697 of the manga, at the end of Punk Hazard.</p><p>Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy ;)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Punk Hazard belonged in a snow globe, a glass ball of isolated chaos - to marvel at upon first sight, but to never step inside.</p><p>Nami remembered the snow globes Bellemere would line up along their lone bookshelf - the only one they could afford - each one second-hand and chipped, but unique in creation and design. Her mother made sure to scrounge together just enough berries each year to purchase the trinkets in the depths of Cocoyashi’s winter, when money was especially tight, simply because Nami and Nojiko had liked them.</p><p>(In particular, Nami remembered a steal from a traveling merchant - a sand-dancing sphere of a desert nation, a place she had never seen, with an ornate gold and lapis inscription in a language she didn’t know. <em> A sand globe, now that’s a new one! </em> Bellemere had chuckled, while a young Nami had held it with both hands in awe.</p><p>Of course, Nami knew better now, had been to, navigated and charted that place, and places even wilder - had <em> loved </em> in that place, a feeling that occasionally still burned and whipped up in her like a sandstorm. Blue and gold, love left in a war-torn land.</p><p>Since her time in Alabasta, two years ago, Nami had learned a lot about the world, and about herself.</p><p>Most importantly, she learned weather and love were both natural phenomena in and of themselves, ones Nami was still trying to master.)</p><p>Still, she couldn’t help but marvel over Punk Hazard’s climate, its magnetic pull, its strangeness - but gods, thinking of the nefarious nature of the place, she couldn’t wait to jump on the Sunny and leave for good.</p><p>Nami doubted whether Mocha or any of the other kids had ever seen a snow globe before, had ever held the world in the palm of their hands.</p><p>Her crew now partied with the G-5 marines, in a way Nami knew only her crew could. </p><p>Last she saw, Luffy was talking their new ally’s ear off (Trafalgar Law, his name was, <em> a Warlord </em> of all things! Sometimes, she was sure, Luffy was trying to take years off her life), while Smoker scowled at them both. Law didn’t look particularly invested in what Luffy was saying, but neither did he appear to ignore it. Nami would remain cautious, but it was a good sign at least. Maybe she’d only charge him 200% interest for travelling on the Sunny instead of 300%...</p><p>Sanji worked on preparing a feast for all, while the other assorted idiots of her crew drank and mingled with the marines - a concept that normally would be unsettling instead feeling like the most normalcy they’d had over the past few days (the past <em> two years </em>). Smiling to herself, Robin oversaw them, half-full drink in hand, like a mother duck watching her fledglings. </p><p>Zoro was surrounded by a group of marines, drinking them all under the table. Nami scowled at the thought of the money he must’ve made off them already.</p><p>But while Nami hated to waste an opportunity to swindle a few navy officers in a drinking contest, she was content to be alone and look out upon the sea, memories of tangerine groves and the kind eyes of a woman sailor flashing before her. </p><p>She knew the kids were better off with Captain Tashigi and the navy, would have a much better chance of returning to normal, of having a childhood and a life, if the navy looked after them. Nami knew from experience.</p><p>Maybe a selfish part of her wanted to be that saving grace for someone else, the childish part of her that wanted to stick her tongue out at her beloved mother, and say <em> look, I can do it too! </em> </p><p>But Bellemere was long dead, and Nami wasn’t Bellemere.</p><p>(She had told Vivi about Bellemere, once upon a time, and Vivi had told her about her own mother in return. Titi had been a beautiful, kind, graceful queen in life, according to Vivi’s vague memories, and Nami had listened as if being told a story from a fairytale, rapt and accepting. </p><p>After all, Titi had been Vivi’s mother, so how could she have been anything other than beloved?)</p><p>“Cat Burglar!”</p><p>Captain Tashigi wasn’t Bellemere either, but of any woman Nami had met since, the spark in her eyes came the closest. After all, the powerful stare of a lady sailor always did a number on her heart.</p><p>“I’ve been looking for you,” Tashigi said, keeping several feet of distance between them.</p><p>“And so you’ve found me, Tashigi-chan.”</p><p>“That’s <em> Captain Tashigi </em> to you, Cat Burglar,” Tashigi said, posture stiff, yet Nami could see a bit of uncertainty in her stance. </p><p>“Oh is it? My mistake, <em> Captain-chan</em>,” she replied with a wink.</p><p>Tashigi’s face broke into a blush and Nami observed her for a moment. She was rather cute - and extremely easy to read.</p><p>Silence for a moment, then: “You helped those kids. You saved them, really.” </p><p>Nami hummed, attention drawn toward the sea once more, leaning heavily on the cold steel bars. Snow continued to swirl around them. </p><p>“But remember, we’re the ones who are going to see to their recovery and safe return home. They’ll be taken care of properly from now on. You pirates had better stay out of it, I’m prepared to-”</p><p>“I know,” Nami said. She had a distant smile on her face, her words present but her mind elsewhere. “I know.”</p><p>The look on Tashigi’s face expressed more confusion than her words ever could.</p><p>“Don’t get me wrong, Captain-chan,” Nami continued before Tashigi could protest the nickname, “If I thought it was possible to help those kids myself, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I’m not so stubborn that I’d endanger those kids <em> again </em> for my own selfishness. Just...make sure they all get home safe - or to new homes if their old ones can’t be found. Anywhere that’s safe and warm.”</p><p>Nami turned her gaze toward Tashigi once more, glancing back over her shoulder. Nostalgia and longing usually plagued her when she thought of her mother in the past, but in that moment she felt...light. Unburdened.</p><p>Tashigi looked more sure of herself now, conviction familiar to Nami burning in her eyes. It was comforting to see.</p><p>“Of course. That’s all I want. On that, at least, we can agree.”</p><p>Tashigi still seemed determined to keep significant space between them, so Nami bridged the gap.</p><p>“You know, my mother was a marine.”</p><p>Tashigi visibly faltered in her confidence, likely unsure why Nami was telling her this, perhaps wondering if it was even true.</p><p>“Her name was Bellemere,” Nami said, “I doubt you’d know of her. She died when I was young. But she was the strongest person I’ve ever met. Not because of some devil fruit or that haki power, but because she was impulsive and flawed and loved fiercer than anyone I’ve ever known.”</p><p>Nami’s smile held a softer edge than before. “There’s no feeling in the world like being saved by a lady sailor, Captain-chan. Even if I don’t trust the marines, I trust you to bring these kids to safety.”</p><p>Nami turned away from her view of the sea to face Tashigi fully, head on.</p><p>“Don’t make me regret that.”</p><p>The marine captain seemed to have regained her footing, a determined look taking over her features. It was then Nami realized that Tashigi’s confidence in her own actions may have been a tipping scale, oscillating between justice and honesty and everything in between, but her heart was steadfast. To Nami, who had dealt with liars and deceivers her entire life, who was one herself, that was the most important thing.</p><p>“I won’t,” Tashigi said, and Nami wondered what <em> her </em> mother was like, what led her to where she was now. She wondered if Tashigi thought of pointless trinkets like snow globes and <em> remembered </em>.</p><p>(Nami thought about the only snow globe she still had left, the <em> sand globe </em> as Bellemere had called it, in the corner of a small shelf in her and Robin’s room. She tried not to look at it so much, as to not get pulled in - it would only hurt more when Nami looked away and remembered where she was and who wasn’t there.</p><p>She wondered if Vivi ever noticed.</p><p>Sometimes she caught Robin staring at it too and wondered what she was thinking. If Robin missed something about Alabasta too.)</p><p>“The kids were asking for you though. Perhaps...maybe you should join us at the...party. To say goodbye - I’m sure they’d like that,” Tashigi said and Nami saw the struggle in her eyes - to be friendly with the pirate or denounce her every word, and Nami understood, really. Once upon a time, she had hated pirates too (sometimes she thought of the past and still did).</p><p>“Sure,” Nami said, feeling a sly grin tug at her lips and pull words from them. “How could I possibly say no to that?”</p><p>She and Tashigi joined their respective groups - merged as allies for now, sure to be separated as enemies later - and sat among the children they’d saved together. They smiled, and laughed, and even shared a story or two - a tenuous dance of <em> maybe </em> and <em> never again </em>.</p><p>And yet, Nami felt at ease.</p>
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